Defenders: Falling Rain
by Knife Throwing Clato
Summary: A lonely young wolf travels through an unknown world, having ran away from the broken place she once called home. She knows a prophecy, one that just might concern her. She knows of the five packs and a dark evil. But in the midst of her misery and loneliness, she finds a wolf-dog, a curious creature who just might be her savior.
1. Prolouge

Defenders Falling Rain

The Lightning Prophecy Lightning eyes pierce the earth.  
Sky fur shall light the moon.  
Child of lightning and storm,  
With powers greater than any other.  
Shall strike down evil, Or bring it back.  
A wolf will come.

Prologue A dark shape ran quickly through the heavy rain, leaping over rocks and fallen trees with grace, and no hesitation. A great light sparked in the dark sky, roaring loudly, almost as a warning for the larger storm yet to come. The figure, once a blur of fur and droplets of rain, stopped at the edge of the forest. She hesitated before going in. The wolf noticed a familiar scent, and scowled, her lips curling up. She stared out into the shadows, her tail twitching slightly. Two wolves stepped out; one large and bulky, the other slim and swift. Their eyes were narrowed in a glare, unpleasant expressions on their dark, rain splattered faces.  
"What are you doing here, Clashpaw?", the larger one snarled. He sniffed the thick air and picked up the wolf's light scent, nearly washed out from the heavy rain and strong winds. "BloodPack", he mumbled to the slim wolf next to him with distaste, "What now, have you come here to kill more warriors?" "You're pretty young for that, little pup", the slim wolf sneered.  
"I'm not here for your warriors Cloudstar. I just need a bit of BreezePack's territory. I'm sure you could spare some, you've got plenty of space," Clashpaw spoke casually, grooming her right forepaw.  
"You're hare-brained if you think that BreezePack will hand their territory over that easily.", Cloudstar spat.  
Clashpaw's eyes flashed, and she slowly lowered her paw in the middle of grooming. She looked at him with a plain expression.

"I'm sorry, but I think you'll have to think twice about that." Swiftly, she leapt towards the slim wolf and clamped her jaws around her throat. The wolf landed on their back and whimpered profusely, thrashing around trying to get free of Clashpaw's grip. Cloudstar stumbled back but seemed to regained his balance quickly. Horror flashed in his eyes.  
"Let go of her, now." The male growled, his long, sharp fangs faintly reflecting the light of the booming strike of lightning, which hit relatively close to their small meeting ground.  
Clashpaw turned to him, her jaws still clamped tight. Her eyes were cold and dull, unforgiving. Her face remained emotionless as her teeth sank deeper into the wolf's neck, but not enough to kill her.  
"I'll..I'll give you some territory up north near the top of the stream, but, please...do not take too much of our prey.", the large wolf begged pathetically, "While we may have a large territory, the prey is becoming scarce. Even we, the strongest in the clan, are weak with hunger. Though, I do not want any blood to be spilled tonight."  
Now that Clashpaw had really looked at them, the wolf she had in her jaws was not slim, but skinny. She nodded as if she agreed, then dropped the wolf back down. Immediately after being let go, she scrambled behind Cloudstar. Clashpaw backed up and ran towards the stream. Never would she turn back. Not to the horrors she'd seen in her life. 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Rain walked through the forest, navigating through the maze of trees providing cold shade for the land and creatures under them. They were taller than any tree she'd seen before, or at least any trees that she'd remembered seeing. The sky was dark, and little sunlight filtered through the treetops. The air was still thick and smelled heavily of rainwater from the night before. The stale scent of animals rushing to take shelter before the storm remained in the area. A growling noise was heard, and she whipped her head around sniffing the air and straining her ears, before noticing that it was her own stomach. She hadn't noticed her own hunger until now.  
Rain breathed in deeply with her nose in an attempt to find some scents of prey around. Branches and leaves and occasionally tiny animal bones crunched under her paws, the damp, grassy, muddy floor squishing and sloshing. She wandered around aimlessly, and hopped onto a tree stump from a fallen oak. Her sparkling bright blue eyes shone from the light coming through the gap where the tree had fallen. They reflected the sunlight like the flowing crystal river found in the forest. She hopped off the stump and gently rubbed against a bush, the sun shining directly on her. Suddenly, she got a sense of familiarity. 'Have I been here before? No, I couldn't have been.' she thought. Sudden realization flashed into her brain.  
Her eyesight dimmed and her head started to spin with dizziness and confusion. She stumbled around, "Oh no, no, no, not here, not now," she whispered as she stumbled back in disoriented shock. She felt nauseated and her legs felt too weak to support her body, which now seemed heavier. The dense scent of rain was now muffled with the scent of her mother pressed up against her side, curled around her. Memories flashed through her mind. Her head was spinning faster and faster, as she saw herself standing in the same place as a small and weak pup. Her mother was wrapped around her, protecting her from an unknown danger, and all she could see was her grayish-brown coat covering her eyes. She heard whimpers and howls, many other wolves in great pain. Over all of the horrifying noise, she heard a clear, unfamiliar voice.  
"Stormflight!", she felt her mother flinch and tense up, possibly due to the fact that the stranger had called her by her full warrior name, and she had found it as a threat, "You will die! You have never been strong enough! Face it, this is your destiny, you cannot avoid fate!" The gruff voice spat in their direction, echoing through the forest. Her mother, shaking with fury, sadness, or fear, quickly turned around and grabbed Rain by the scruff on her neck and started to run. She ran and ran like her life had depended on it, which it probably did. Rain could sense her mother's weariness while she was running, but she didn't stop for a second. She was protecting her one remaining pup. Rain heard many paws hitting the cold, hard ground behind them, and the mystery wolves were catching up with them. Suddenly, Storm skidded to a halt, and Rain could faintly see clear, sparkling water in front of them. There was a strong scent of salty ocean water. Rain was set down, and her mom curled around her. Her mother breathed heavily, her sides quickly rising and falling against Rain's.  
Suddenly, she awoke from her memories. The warm scent of her mother was no longer there, and the light shining through the leaves warmed her fur. She could no longer hear the loud pawsteps gradually getting louder, and she no longer felt safe. Rain jumped to her paws, and started running. She ran as fast as her legs could possibly take her, away from the terror. The forest thinned out and the countryside changed. Her paws hit hard stone instead of soft forest ground. Rain stopped, surprised. Something loud growled and raced towards her. She yelped and dove out of the way. She scrambled into a narrow crack between two enormous stones. A sharp pain flashed in her right forepaw. She stumbled and gritted her teeth to keep from shouting out in pain. She didn't want to give away her position to others around. She sat down and examined her paw. It was starting to swell up and blood was spilling out freely. Quickly, she bent her head down and swiped her tongue over her paw with swift, quick licks. The blood tasted like metal on her tongue. Rain stopped licking it and tested it gingerly. A throbbing pain flared instantly, and she knew it was broken. "Grrr." Another sudden growl made her snap her head up. She had been so intent on her wound that she didn't notice the loud noises and growls. She looked around carefully. The large stones she had squeezed between had large holes in them. As she stared at them, she noticed how strangely symmetrical and smooth the stones and the holes were. 'What a freak of nature, perfect stones!' She thought to herself. 'What is this place?'. As she looked around more, she saw that the noises and growls came from these creatures that ran around on round black paws. But as she looked even closer, she saw something inside. 'Twopaws? Inside!?' she thought, 'There's no way that this can be possible!'  
Then she heard something else, a low growling noise. Grumble, growl, grumble. This didn't sound like the Rollingcages she'd seen roaming around before. Rain soon realized that it was her stomach that was making the noise. She'd forgotten about her hunger from earlier. Reluctantly, she got up, ignoring the blinding pain in her paw. She sniffed the air for food and recoiled. The smell was horrible! It smelled worse than vulture food. Over the stench, she picked out another scent. 'Food!' It was a little stale, maybe caught a couple days ago by the smells of it. Rain limped towards the scent, her mouth watering. She squeezed through more symmetrical stones, and finally, there it was!  
The food where the smell came from was laid on the cold stone floor; a chunk of meat, though she couldn't tell what kind of meat. She pulled herself towards the large piece and bent her head, taking a large bite. To her hungry stomach, the meat tasted delicious. Rain was bending her head to take another bite when she heard a sound that didn't sound like the Rollingcages. In fact, the growl sounded like a 'Wolf!' She thought. She raised her head and barked, "Come out, whoever is there!"  
"Maybe not who, kid, but...a what." A voice growled.  
Dim light fell on dark black fur. Large reddish-brown paws stepped out and Rain found herself looking into large yellow eyes. She gasped and stumbled backwards, her legs shaking, ears and tail twitching. The large figure was menacing and she was genuinely afraid.  
"Hello there, little pup." He sneered. Rain looked up and saw night black fur, it was matted, and probably crawling with ticks and fleas. They had obviously not been groomed well in a long while, maybe even moons. "You should know better than to steal our meat," the stranger said, staring right into Rain's eyes with a fiery anger. "Why don't you just find your own food in your little food bowl back home, you pampered princess?" He said, hints of cruel amusement in his voice.  
"I..I was hungry, and I don't have a food to eat whenever I want, you stupid ball of matted fur!" She spat at him, showing more bravery than she felt. Though, talking back like this made her more confident with every word, but also a little more insecure.  
She saw his paws twitch as if itching to scratch her stupid face to bits, and she couldn't blame him. She was surprised that she was able to muster up that small bit of confidence. Rain sensed a fight coming up and was sure that she could probably win because of her small size.  
"I'm not afraid to lose, especially to a dirty mutt like you." She growled showing her sharp claws.

"Don't call me a mutt, you soft puppy!" He spat back at her, venom in his voice.  
"I. Am. Not. A. Puppy!" She screamed at him, she felt her eyes become glassy and wet. Rain could feel the hatred burning up inside of her. She wasn't going to be made a fool. Every inch of her body shook with fury. She howled, yelling out a battle cry as she hurled herself at the dirty mutt, clawing at him. Rain maneuvered swiftly and lifted one of her paws up, swiping it quickly against his face, leaving deep scars. He tackled her, but she, full of anger and spite found the strength to push him off, earning a few deep scratches on her side in the process. She closed her eyes, scratching and biting him. Hot tears swelled up in her eyes and ran down her blood splattered face. Suddenly, she didn't feel his attacks anymore, and she opened her eyes. He was bruised and scratched, lots of blood flowing from his wounds. She had managed to tear and scratch of larges pieces of flesh from the left side of his face, which was gushing with crimson liquid. Rain was panting heavily, but she noticed one more thing. Her opponent was drenched; completely soaked in water. She was confused, as she was completely dry, but she didn't question it too much. 'Serves him right,' she thought.  
"Ohoho, you've messed with the wrong dog, stupid little puppy…" He stood weakly, a large grin on his face. He howled up at the sky, lightning flashing through suddenly, dozens of other dogs came out slowly, surrounding her. She heard a soft crackling from him, and she panicked.

The mutts growled, scratched, and bit Rain. Blood was spilling out from her wounds into a puddle on the concrete. She was too weak to fight back, and she collapsed, her vision slowly fading.

"You stupid pup." She heard another voice sigh, before her eyesight blacked out. 


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rain shifted and turned in her sleep and felt something soft under her. 'Is this...moss?' She thought. Her entire body was sore, her muscles screaming in pain. She felt someone gently poke her stomach.  
She groaned and open her eyes to find herself staring into two different color eyes, one brown and one blue. They were connected to a pale, face with a brown spotted body.  
Suddenly, Rain remembered the vicious fight; this might be one of the mutts that had surrounded and attacked her.  
Rain tried to stand, but her legs were weak and throbbing with pain. She hadn't felt this pain before when she was fighting. 'Maybe it was because of the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins,' She thought to herself. Nevertheless she stood and growled at the wolf, "Where have you taken me, you mutt?!"  
"I save you and you call me a mutt. It's what I get for interfering." The other wolf sighed.  
"You..saved me? But.." Rain realized that she couldn't afford to look weak. "I was fine! I'd almost beaten that flea-bitten mutt-  
"His name is Mars, or Marshall, but that's beside the point." The other wolf cut across. Her expression was amused as if Rain calling Mars' names was making her laugh. But suddenly, fiery intensity replaced the amusement in her different colored eyes. "The point is, what were you doing out there trying to pick a fight you knew you could never win?" She growled viciously, with annoyance before her voice softened, "That dog was ten times bigger than you. But that does make me curious. What's your name, wolf?"  
"Me? Uh, well, I'm..Rain." Then Rain hesitantly responded, "What's yours?"  
"I'm Kara." The wolf said briskly, "How old are you?" 'She's really curious about me.' Rain decided before replying, " 10 moons, I think." The other wolf was silent for a while. "You're young to be running around these streets."

"Streets?"

"It's what we dogs call the 'darkpaths', as you wolves would call it. Y'know, the place between the two twopaw paths, where the rollingcages live?"

"Dogs?" Rain questioned, confused.

"You don't know much, do you kid? A dog is what...Mars is. And the rest of his street pack. It's like a species that is similar to wolves but smaller and has different breeds and more fur colors." Rain nodded slowly to show her understanding.  
"One more thing. Why was Mars wet? He looked drenched." Kara went on looking at Rain almost hopefully.  
Rain shook her head. "I don't know."

The air temperature seemed to drop and Rain shivered. Her head felt like slush and she was dizzy. Suddenly realizing how long she had been standing, her legs gave away and she collapsed.  
"Whoa, whoa, kid, hold on." Kara barked. She grabbed Rain by the scruff and half dragging, half carrying her to a strange, soft nest.  
"You shouldn't have gotten up. You're barely surviving at this moment." Kara barked, worry in her voice. She hurried around the small cave and came back pushing a something with her muzzle that was filled with clear, cold water that she placed near Rain, who lowered her head and lapped weakly at the water.

Kara glanced at Rain then back at the thing, "I got that from a giant cage behind a weird building, along with the bedding. Kinda dirty, but at least it's something." Rain didn't know what a building was, but she was too tired to question it and rested her head on her paws. Then, she closed her eyes, breathing deeply as darkness clouded her eyes.

Her dreams were even worse than the night before but she didn't understand this one as much as the other one. She was standing in never ending darkness, dark red shapes phasing in and out through her. Even time they passed through her, she felt cold, her power draining and worst of all, dark memories.

The dark shapes formed into a wolf-like body with glowing blue eyes and black paws. When it spoke, icy air flowed out of its mouth and distant coldness pressed like ice shards into her soul.

"Clashblood-" Anger at her past overcame her fear and she leaped at the creature clawing for its throat.

"MY NAME IS NOT CLASHBLOOD!" Rain barked out as loud as she could. "It never was." She whispered as she landed on the other side of the red shape, having missed it as it darted to the side.

"You are a curious one." He said, amusement in his voice, "You avoid your destiny at all costs even if it is dancing beneath your paws. Why do you do this? Why don't you just accept your fate?"  
'Wasn't it obvious?' Rain thought, 'After all I've been through?' Her paws itched to claw at everything around her.  
"Maybe what you think is obvious may not be so obvious to others around you." He said like he read her mind. Rain didn't look surprised.  
"If you can read minds, you should understand!" She barked out painfully. Her eyes felt like they were swelling. Rain felt light dawning on her and she was momentarily blinded. During that she heard his voice, "You try to forget your past; pretend that it was never there, but you can't run from it, you have to reclaim it."

Rain scrambled up so fast that she didn't realize that she was awake and covered with leaves. She sniffed them cautiously, and noticed a bitter taste in her mouth conflicting with a sweet but slightly sour flavor.  
"The taste in your mouth, they're called herbs; they heal us." A voice spoke slowly, with a hint of sarcasm in it.  
Rain turned around to see Kara padding towards her, her eyes relieved. "You're lucky you're alive, you were a few pawsteps from death."  
"Death has been nipping at my heels from the time I was born. I'm not scared of it." Rain replied curtly. Kara looked like she understood but if she did, she didn't say it.  
"You had a bad dream?" Kara asked while she moved forward to take some herbs away. "Yeah" Rain said, surprised, "How did you know?"  
"You were tossing and turning mumbling about mind reading and fate. It was impossible." Kara sighed, walking around Rain casually, tidying things up here and there during their conversation, "It's not surprising. Forest wolves like you have prophetic dreams which came from our ancestors who were connected with the sky spirits."  
"What are sky spirits? Do you mean clouds?" Rain asked cautiously; thinking about the wolfish creature from the dream before. She'd heard of SkyPack once before, but never of sky spirits. Was Kara confusing her words? Kara's head shot towards her, all of her attention focused on Rain, "Huh? You don't know what the sky spirits are?" Rain tilted her head in confusion.  
"Not a surprise, puppy." Kara shook her head at Rain.  
"Can you not call me a puppy? I'm already around 6 moons old." Rain growled lowly, flattening her ears and averting her eyes.  
"Whatever," Kara spoke carelessly, hopping up onto a strange, old, ripped up nest with soft bedding. She curled up and closed her eyes, "Pretty small to be 6 moons," She sneered. Rain growled under her breath at the remark.

Kara shuffled in her soft bedding and soft snores alerted Rain that she was already asleep. Rain glanced out of a clear square in the stone and saw the moon high up in the sky.

"I've been asleep for a long time; must've been really tired." Rain muttered to herself. She looked around carefully for the first time; noticing small details. She was in a small cavern made of different kinds of material some of which she distinguished as stale, and rotten food. "What a weird place to live in." Rain climbed a pile of the same mysterious materials and looked to the sky.

"Mother...If you're listening to me, help me return to the forest of the other Packs. I-I can take care of myself there." Her confidence renewed, she continued, "And...I'm sorry, you didn't have to die. It..it was my fault. I didn't-"

"You're talking to the stars." A sharp voice cut through. Rain flinched and tensed up, biting her tongue. She turned her head to see the brown dog standing in her bedding.

"I thought you were asleep." Rain said, with a hint of mock in her voice, staring daggers at Kara.

"I heard you talking about your mother. She's dead right?" Kara leapt down from her den and stalked towards Rain.

"I don't see why you bother to poke your snout in my business." Rain curled her lip.  
"You're talking to the sky spirits; to your mother." Kara said, not realizing that she was stretching the limit.

"I prefer not to talk about it." Rain growled. Her ears flattened against her head.

"Now I remember! You forest wolves call sky spirits SkyPack!" Kara barked excitedly.

"SkyPack?" Rain perked up her ears. She remembered the ancient stories her mother told her. About dead spirit wolves in the sky who watched over the Packs and her too. Rain had giggled then, not believing but times have changed. Kara looked at her curiously. Rain shook herself as if shaking off the worries.

"Just drop it." She muttered before heading off to find a dry place to sleep. After wandering around for awhile, she found a large leafy bush that looked like the leaves Kara had used to bring water from before. She sniffed it carefully, making sure there wasn't any animals living there.

She slipped under and taking some of the leaves, make a bedding for herself. She padded in a circle before she settled down, thinking about Kara. She was pretty sure Kara (although she had called her a pup) was only a few moons older than her but apparently way more experienced.

'Had she lived her whole life as a stray? Had she ever been to the forest? If she had, why didn't she want to go back?' These questions circled her head but most of all, 'Why did she give me that knowing look, like she understood my life and all I had to endure?' Rain laid her head down, blocking out those thoughts and with a final breath of tiredness, went into a deep, restful sleep.

Chapter 3 Kara was stuck with the pup. What was her name? Something to do with the sky. Was it Cloud, Snow? No, no no. It was Rain. The pup was too young to survive on her own, much less a fight with a pack of mutts and win. But then again, she was doubting the kid. After all she had survived on her own for many moons.  
Kara glanced at the sleeping mound of gray-blue fur marked by streaks of silver on her snout; showing her only resemblance with the forest wolves' pelts. It was different from the normal dark black and gray fur most forest wolves had. She had almost hoped, nearly brought herself to believe, 'No' she told herself, 'She's a wolf, not a dog." She sighed to herself and looked up at the sky. It was fading orange with the smallest hint of purple. It was late. Kara walked over. She poked her snout in the soft blue fur.  
"Hey kid, wake up." Rain groaned and turned on her back; exposing her silver belly fur. Kara wrinkled her snout in disgust. This was obviously not a forest wolf.  
"Stop doing that." She growled. Rain looked up surprised. "You're showing submission, retreat. It means that you are low-ranked." Rain snorted but got up anyway. She was so small that she only came up to her neck.  
"We got to get moving. Better take a few leaves of comfrey and goldenrod." Kara muttered while trotting over gathering the leaves.  
"Where are we going?" Rain asked walking over to her. "Why don't we just stay here?" She followed Kara into the cave. Kara said nothing, thinking hard. She placed the herbs in a large leaf and clamped her jaws on the edge, the leaf's Finally, she turned to Rain and growled, "The street pack you were fighting aren't dead, they're just really angry. They're going to be coming for you, especially since you badly wounded their alpha." She shot a pointed look at Rain. "He was trying to kill me! At least I should defend myself." She protested, her eyes widening. Kara rolled her eyes and said, "Sure you should defend yourself but only enough so that you can escape." Kara started walking up a mound of trash.  
"I'm tired of running. It's always a new spot, a new place to live but then danger attacks and I always have to find a new spot and it's never permanent. I haven't had a permanent home since...since..."  
"Since your mother died." Kara finished. Rain was silent for a while. Kara trotted faster while thinking hard. The kid didn't have a pack, or did she? Her mother died, was her mother the Alpha? Where did she come from anyway? Kara wanted to ask but knew she should wait. Deep in thought, Kara didn't realize that it was right in front of her until she felt the pain. She felt her body hit the cold stone pavement and realized that she collapsed. Her head felt bright and painful. It was numb and tingled. She saw a face swimming in her vision and heard,  
"Kara! You alright?" Kara groaned and tried to heave herself up, placing one shaking foot on the pavement then the other. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. Finally getting a clear view of her surroundings, she realized the object she crashed into. It was a street stick. One of those that stick in the ground and made of cold, hard stone. At least she thought it was stone. "Stupid street sticks. Nothing but…" Kara's voice trailed away as Rain started laughing. "What are you laughing at?" Kara demanded. After a while, Rain calmed down and replied, smiling, "At you and your 'walking right into 'street sticks' or whatever you call it."  
"I was distracted, alright?" Kara muttered as flicked her ear 👂. Irritated, she gazed around the street and studied her surroundings. Rain shifted nervously.  
"Um..How long do you think we have before the street pack find us?" Kara shrugged, "Maybe a day at most." She said absentmindedly. Kara sensed Rain tensing up. She turned around to stare into the wide lightning blue eyes. "You scared?" Kara said mockingly.  
"What?! No! I'm not scared." Rain barked in a small voice.  
"You better not be." Kara growled, her fur prickling up. "The wolf that tried to fend off a whole pack of street dogs shouldn't be scared that they'll follow her." Rain seemed to gain some confidence and that made Kara relax. "Anyway, we should travel to somewhere safer and far away." Kara turned to look at Rain. "Before you mentioned the 'forest of the other Packs'. Did you mean the forest where the wild forest wolves live?" The sun turned Rain's fur the color of fire and water; as if they were mixed together and her blue eyes glowed in the rapidly fading light. Her lips curled, "I need to go there." She said coolly, "I have some territory there that I can live on." Kara was thoughtful. Territory? Apparently, the pup did have somewhere to live. Bu what about her family? If her mother was dead, what about her father? Kara meant to ask but instead she found herself saying,  
"It's getting dark. Moonsky is coming soon." Rain looked up and nodded. Kara trotted over to the nearest building and sniffed it carefully. It was broken and the glass was shattered. It laid on its side and smelled like dust and rocks. Rain walked over and started to look I inside.  
"Careful kid. The glass can cut your paws." Knowing that Rain didn't know what glass was, she added, "It's the sharp clear thing that are scattered around here." Rain nodded and carefully placed her paws in the patches of ground that didn't have glass and walked in. "It's good." Rain called. "There is no one in here and I found a spot to sleep. The smell a little musky here though."  
"Alright. I'll be there soon." Kara barked. "I'm going to hunt." Kara pranced off to the nearest street. Half walking, half trotting she went to the an alleyway. She sniffed the air. It was thick with the scent of birds. 'Pigeons!' Kara thought. She followed the scent and spotted it, going behind some of the giant metal bowl as to not scare it off. She crouched low to stay hidden, sneaking up slowly. The pigeon was pecking at some old crumbs of food as she snuck behind it and quickly grabbed the fat bird between her jaws without a sound.  
Her strong jaws crushed the bird's small bones and killed it in an instant before it had a chance to escape. The smell of fresh meat tempted her but she forced the feeling it behind the stinky metal bowl, she went to look for more. She didn't need to walk far before another fat pigeon flew awkwardly out of the alley; probably because of its bulging stomach. "Pigeons." She grumbled under her breath. "Always fat and well fed." Crouching low and balancing on her hackles, she gave a sudden leap,and clawed the pigeon down with her. Holding her head high, she brought brought both the pigeons back to the broken building where the kid lay down, her head on her paws. Kara let the pigeon fall out of her jaws as she glanced at Rain. The small wolf raised her head and looked at the prey, a confused expression showing on her face.  
"You're not gonna eat?" Kara sneered. "Well, more for me." Rain widened her eyes, scrambling towards the pigeon that lie on the floor. "No, no! I do want it!" She protested. Rain bent down her head, taking a large bit out of the fresh kill. Kara guessed that this was the first real meal she'd eaten in quite a while. She quickly ate half of the bird, taking large bites. Kara was looked out towards the streets, the moon slowly rising. Then, she felt something poke her. Turning her head, she found Rain pushing the pigeon to her. Kara had a slight expression of confusion on her face.  
"Oh." Kara dipped her head slightly;understanding, "I don't want it and you need it." Kara nodded to Rain, a glint of surprise in her different colored eyes. Rain understood and nodded, pulling the kill back with her forepaw. She ate the rest of it just as quickly as the other. She licked the last bits of food from the front of her muzzle, around her mouth.  
"Alright, now let's sleep, it's getting late." Kara growled quietly as she made her way to the back of the building with Rain close behind her. They made it back and checked around for any other dogs, but there was nobody to be found. Rain left into a dark corner and curled up, letting out a soft whimper. 'Spirits of Endless Sky' She found herself thinking, 'Help me protect this pup. She is lost and inexperienced. Let me guide her to her home.' Choosing a corner, she curled up, letting out a deep sigh. She lifted her head up slightly, looking out of a close up hole in the cold stone wall at the Moonsky stars. Soft glittering moonlight filtered its way in through gaps between the boards, casting shapes of light onto the ground. Kara stayed awake, staring at the fluttering light. After a while, she nuzzled her head between her paws and closed her eyes, falling asleep. She knew that she would have to protect this new pup.

Kara woke to the sound of thrashing and cries. She looked outside to see rain coming down. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Kara looked over to Rain. Her limbs were flailing all around and her face was contorted in an expression of pure terror, her eyes still closed. Kara jumped to her feet and lowered herself until she was crouching. "No, No!" Rain yelled, still thrashing. "Don't take her! Take me instead! Don't leave me! No, NO!" She was sobbing now, tears streaming down her face. "FATHER! Why?! I thought you loved her!" Kara stared, shivering and terrified, unable to move. Finally, Rain whimpered and fell limp, breathing heavily. Kara unfroze and after deciding that it was safe, inched toward her and arched her neck to peer at her face. The terror was gone replaced by anger and determination by the hard set line on her mouth. Before she could react, Kara was knocked off her feet and landed hard on her back, teeth pressed against her looked up to see Rain's face. The small wolf apparently had a lot of strength. "Rain!" Kara said harshly, "Snap out of it! It's me, Kara!" She felt the teeth pressed harder and felt a warm trickle down. Kara had no choice. Using her hind legs, she clawed against the other wolf's underfur, trying to push her off but Rain planted her feet firmly. Finally, she gave a moan and fell back, opening her eyes. Kara rolled over, trying to catch her breath and stop the blood that was flowing freely from her throat.  
Weakly, she ripped the front pouch from her neck and chewed a few leaves all while watching Rain out of the corner of her eyes. The blue wolf was getting to her feet. There were scratches all over her underside but no blood. Kara spat the chewed up leaves on her neck wound. Rain finally got up and limped over. Kara flinched when the wolf was face to face. Rain glanced at the wound.  
"Sorry." She mumbled apologetically but her eyes showed different. There was shock and confusion;mostly anger. And there was a glint of something, something that sent shivers of fear through Kara. Something that she couldn't quite figure out. It was then that Kara realized that Rain had been through a lot. Figuring her out was like digging through the earth; there was always a deeper layer. Whenever Kara thought she had figured her out, there would be a change in personality.  
Rain apparently didn't need an answer as she sighed, her eyes staring at something far away. Suddenly, she stiffened and her blue eyes hardened. "I need to go." She leapt towards the door despite her injuries and ran out into the rain. "Rain!" Kara called desperately "Come back!" But it was too late. The sky blue wolf disappeared into the darkness.

_

Chapter 4 Rain felt the water soak into the pads on her paws and her warm fur dampen quickly 


End file.
